US troops killed in Afghanistan and Africa

Will McLawhorn was a fun-loving young man with a dry sense of humor and hopes of becoming an Army Ranger, friends and family said.

"Will loved life and had a great sense of humor, often quipping out one-liners that could leave you in stitches," McLawhorn's family wrote in his obituary.

McLawhorn was the son of the Rev. Willie and Dianne McLawhorn.

"He was always teasing everyone about him being a preacher's kid," Brian Bolton, the mayor of McLawhorn's hometown of Conway, N.C., told The Daily Herald newspaper. Bolton said his daughter had dated McLawhorn in high school.

The 23-year-old McLawhorn was one of six Fort Campbell soldiers killed by a suicide bomber Dec. 12 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. He received his high school diploma from Northeast Academy in 2005.

His family said in his obituary that McLawhorn was an avid hunter who bagged an eight-point buck with his first shot. In high school, he excelled at baseball and basketball.

The obituary said that, as a youngster, McLawhorn liked to pretend he was a soldier and toss pine cone "grenades."

His fellow paratroopers knew him as "Claw," the obituary said.

---

Marine Sgt. Garrett A. Misener

Garrett Misener's mother sent him care packages all the time while he was serving in Afghanistan, boxes filled with socks, Little Debbie brownies, magazines, batteries and anything else he might need. But she couldn't send him what she said was the food he missed most: Taco Bell.

Janne Zaccagnino said her son had served overseas several times, including trips to Iraq, Africa and the Caribbean. She said he felt that God had called him to serve in the military, The (Memphis, Tenn.) Commercial Appeal reported.

Zaccagnino asked people attending her sons funeral to bring teddy bears, which would then be donated to a children's hospital. The request stemmed from her son's nickname.

"It started with GarBear," his mother said, a nickname that rhymes with Care Bears, which were popular when he was a child. "Later we just called him Bear."

Misener, 25, of Cordova, Tenn., was killed Dec. 27 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune.

His family wrote in his obituary that he graduated from Cordova High School. He played on the school's rugby team and excelled as a musician, playing drums, ukulele, guitar and viola.

He wasn't much good then, Jenkins said at Mixon's funeral. He banged his mismatched sticks on a textbook, his tongue hanging from his mouth. But he worked hard - and in a matter of years, Mixon was a regular on the drumline of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

"He had drumsticks everywhere he went," Rachel Davis, who danced on the high school's color guard team, told The Florida Times-Union. He pounded on bus seats, desks - whatever was around.